Nightmares & Memories
by starlightpatronus
Summary: Characters, parts of plot and places belong to the amazing talent that is JK Rowling. The main plot and the character of Lilac Hansel are mine. I don't earn a profit off of this story. - What if the most important person in your life was kidnapped by the most dangerous wizard in the world - and it was all your fault?
1. Start

**Prologue**

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Stop being so _mean_, Bella!" Snapped Narcissa. Her sisters had been fighting again, and Andromeda was in tears. That killed Narcissa on the inside. She hated seeing people cry.

"Stay out of it." Bellatrix snapped right back. She turned to the middle sister. "And you... Wait until Mummy finds out -"

"No! Please, please, Bella, please don't tell Mummy, she'll kill me -"

"No." Sneered Bellatrix. She looked over to the corner of the empty hall, where two Muggleborns were shaking. "She'll kill _it_." Bellatrix motioned to the young boy.

The girl in the corner stepped forward. As she opened her mouth, Bellatrix took three long strides towards her and shoved her _against_ the wall.

"Don't touch her!" Exclaimed Andromeda. She ran over to her best friend, pulling her up from the corridor wall.

Personally, Narcissa liked Sherri - Andromeda's Muggleborn best friend - a lot. She was nothing like her Mum and Dad had described Muggleborns to be. Ted Tonks, her boyfriend (whom Narcissa also had taken a liking to) went to help Andromeda.

"Andromeda, you've got to stop. They're Mudbloods and you're insulting the -"

_"Shut up!"_ Yelled Narcissa and Andromeda at the same time. Andromeda, Ted and Sherri all gave Narcissa weak smiles as a thank you for standing up to their older sister.

Bellatrix had a little fit, but marched off.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

The very next day, a dozen Howlers arrived in front of Andromeda. She knew what they were for and had tears swelling up in her eyes. They demanded that she either leave the "lesser race" or never come home.

Sherri and Ted, of course, insisted that she keep herself from anymore trouble and stop seeing them, but Andromeda wouldn't have it. The two Muggleborns agreed to let her stay with their families for as long as they may need to.

One day a couple of weeks later, Narcissa found Andromeda in an empty classroom. She was gazing, with a little smile, at a faded photograph of Sherri, Ted and herself in Hogsmeade years ago.

"Doesn't it hurt?" Narcissa finally asked, breaking the silence. It was a question that had been clouding her brain for weeks, and she just had to know.

Andromeda looked at her quizzically, so Narcissa continued. "Mummy and Dad, they don't care anymore. Not about you." That thought burned her own throat to say. She missed her happy, perfect, well put-together family.

"I know." Sighed Andromeda after a minute. "I've realized that there's people I respect more, people I love more, than Mum or Dad or even Bella. Cissy, you're different. You get it, right? This whole blood status thing, it's such a lie, it's so stupid, and I'm embarrassed to say that I used to agree with Bella's opinion on them.

Narcissa nodded slowly. This was a lesson she'd never forget.

She never thought that two different Muggleborns could get married and have children. Ted Tonks married Andromeda and Sherri got decided to tie the knot with a kind Halfblood. Narcissa became an aunt quickly after she was done at Hogwarts, and she loved her little niece, Nymphadora, whether she was Pureblood or not. Unfortunately, she had to keep everything under wraps - she loved her family back at home to death but didn't want to be excluded from the beautiful family that her sister had started. She would update Andromeda on things that were going on around the house, even if it wasn't all that interesting. Andromeda and Sherri's families stayed hidden during He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named's rise to power, while Narcissa's parents were praising him. Even the Prefect - the boy she had fancied for ages - admired him.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

A few years later, Narcissa stood in front of Andromeda's house, her hands clammy and shivering. She knocked on the door and could hear a little "I'll get it!" from inside the cute little house.

The front door opened and a little girl appeared.

"Aunty Cissy!" The six year old exclaimed. Her hair turned a bright yellow and she wrapped her arms around Narcissa's waist.

"Hey, Nym-"

The little girl looked up with a stern expression and her hair started getting darker.

"Dora!" Narcissa corrected herself. "Hello, Dora!"

Nymphadora smiled again and her hair went bright again. For whatever reason, she couldn't stand her real name.

"What do you think?" Dora asked, spinning around in her big tutu and a sparkly blue shirt. "Daddy is taking me trick or treating, and I'm going to be a fairy!"

"Dora, get in here, we need to-" Andromeda walked into the room. "Oh my gosh, Sherri, get in here! Cissy, I can't believe you came!"

Narcissa went to her sister and gave her a hug.

"It's been way too long." Narcissa sighed. "Ever since the wedding, Lucius and I have been so busy."

"Don't worry about it," sighed Sherri, coming into the room. "The important thing is that you're here now. Besides, I have something to tell you two..."

"Daddy, can we go now?" Whined Dora.

Ted came out and greeted Narcissa, then took Dora's hand and leaded her out the doorway.

"So, Cissy, how have you and Lucius been ?" Asked Sherri, sitting on the couch.

Narcissa sighed. She looked up to Sherri for being so caring towards her and her husband, even if he would kill her if he could.

"Very busy with Dark Lord business." Said Narcissa sadly. "He's even getting me involved. Bella, she - " Narcissa took a deep breath, trying to keep herself together. "She got the Mark. She got his Mark."

Sherri looked at the ground sadly, and Andromeda blinked several times, as if trying to keep the tears from spilling.

"I almost didn't let Dora go out for Halloween this year." Sighed Andromeda. "It's so dangerous out there."

"Yeah, that's what Henry was saying too," said Sherri, referring to her husband. "Except, well..."

"Muggles and their families, they're getting treated so horribly when the Snatchers get them. Children, they torture children..." Sighed Andromeda

"Speaking of children..." Started Sherri.

"Lucius is always talking about all the houses they raided, all the people they - they murdered..." Said Narcissa sadly. "He's such a driven man, he's so strong, so loyal, but for all the wrong reasons, and to all the wrong people."

"Girls, I really do have to tell you something..." Said Sherri again.

"Actually, I do too. There's a reason I came..." Said Narcissa slowly.

"Yeah, what's -" Andromeda was interrupted by a screeching sound that cut through their conversation.

"Goodness, I was making tea and forgot to turn off the kettle. Cissy, would you like some?"

"Please,"

Minutes later, Andromeda was carefully carrying three mugs, gave one to Narcissa, and put one on a coaster in front of Sherri, but she looked like she was in another world.

"What were you saying?" Asked Andromeda, taking a sip of tea.

Narcissa started. "I think Sherri was talk-"

"I'm two weeks pregnant." Sherri finally blurted, tired of being interrupted.

Everything went silent. Andromeda had stopped mid-drink. Narcissa stared at her.

In Narcissa's opinion, it was cruel to bring a small, defenceless, innocent child to a world so full of evil.

As these thoughts came to her, tears slowly filled her eyes. She finally spoke, with a quiet, cracking voice that no one would have heard if the room wasn't so quiet because of Sherri's announcement.

"Me too."


	2. Human

**A/N: I hope that you guys like this chapter :) I've wanted to write a fanfiction forever, and im just now getting around to it. I have about 33,000 words written so far, but I have a lot of ideas for this fanfiction. If you hadn't realized, each chapter name will be a five letter word, an idea I got from Bex-chan's fanfiction Isolation (which you should definitely read, by the way). The romance between Hermione and Draco will come slowly, but I promise that it WILL come. **

**I'll also be doing song recommendations on most of my chapters. For this one, I recommend Human by Krewella - it works for Draco and Hermione.**

**Okay, without further ado... **

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

**Sixteen** **Years** **Later**

The snowflakes fell delicately onto the railing, and onto her red hands that were already cold enough. She gripped the railing, trying to numb out the cold, just like she had numb every other feeling that dared come to her for months.

It was such a waste of a beautiful night. This kind of night was meant for children who made midnight snowmen, for lovers to take long walks in the winter snow. This kind of night was meant for happy families to look out the window with hot chocolate in hand.

This kind of night was meant for happy, joyful Christmases.

The young witch shivered. She held up her bottle and took a swig of its liquids. She felt them slide down her throat. One of the side effects of this medication was hallucinations, but she didn't mind. She knew the drill; she would start with the good memories, the memories where she didn't have a care in the world, where she was giggling and laughing and dress shopping. Then, she would relive that horrid night, that night that changed everything, that night that set her world spinning. After that would be the worst phase, the one where she would go through that day's theories for what could have happened afterwards.

_"Bloody Hell, Hermione." Groaned Ron. "We need to get down there, Harry's counting on us to be there -"_

_"I set all the teacher's watches back a good twenty minutes." Explained Hermione. "Where is it?!"_

_"Maybe if you took a second to tell me what you were looking for -" _

_"Harry's photo album." She sighed. "The one Hagrid gave him in First Year. There's a photograph of him and his mum and dad - quite a few, actually - and I heard him telling someone that it was like a good luck charm to him. He's battling dragon. He's going to need all the good luck he can get."_

_The two friends ran up to the boy's dormitory and started ransacking the room, not noticing - or caring about - the giant mess they were making. Harry's Firebolt was propped up against his unmade bed. Hermione checked his night table drawers, where there were several textbooks and class notes and letters from Sirius._

_"Found it!" Cried Ron._

_Under the bed, wedged next to his Invisibility Cloak, was the photo album. Hermione didn't want to pry into this extremely personal artifact of Harry's, but she also wanted to best photo._

_A smile spread across her lips as she came across a picture of a beautiful young woman in a white dress and a man in a tuxedo, with three men behind them making weird or funny faces. Hermione wondered what it would be like to be a bride one day._

_She kept flipping through the pages and came across a remake of the wedding picture, but instead of a white dress, Lily had a huge baby bump, and even James was making a silly face, along with his three best friends. Finally, she came across the very first picture of the Potter family - James, Lily, and a tiny little baby with jet black hair. A few pages later, there was a photo of Ron, Harry and Hermione in their First Year. _

_She took two pictures out of the album. Grabbing a quill from Harry's junk drawer, she and Ron scribbled a little note on the back of the picture of First Year._

_"Let's go. We have about five minutes ..." Said Ron. He gave Hermione his hand to help her get off the floor, and they stared at each other for just a second to long._

_"Right." Said Hermione, letting go of Ron. The two ran out of the Gryffindor Common room, just to bump right into a certain little prick._

_"Well, well, well..." Snickered Malfoy, breaking into a smile. "What are you two lovebirds doing here?"_

_Before Ron could retort, Malfoy grabbed the pictures from Hermione's hand and started reading the back of one of them, revealing the message printed on it. _

_"Good luck, Harry-" he started, reading out loud. "Oh, how cute."_

_"Give that back!" Snapped Hermione. _

_Draco started running with the pictures. "You'll have to catch me!"_

_And with that, the three Fourth Years were running down the halls._

Madam Pomfrey had put Hermione on weak Sleeping Drafts a couple of weeks after the attack at Hogwarts. At first, Hermione refused to take it; but now that she had started, she couldn't stop. Madam Pomfrey had increased the dosage so much that, a year ago, a single glass would have put her to sleep for a couple of weeks, but all it did now was bring a certain intensity to her hallucinations, which was the only form of 'sleep' that she had gotten for months.

_Just as Hermione was an arm's length away from Draco, he took a sharp turn right, sending Ron and Hermione into an empty classroom._

_"Bloody Hell!" Panted Ron. He could hear Malfoy's laughter echo down the hallway. _

_"Ron..." Said Hermione quietly._

_"Who does he think he is? He's immature, and rude, and -"_

_"Ron!" Said Hermione a little louder._

_"Arrogant, that's the word! That's all Malfoy is -"_

_"RON!"_

_Finally, Ron turned around, where Snape, Karkaroff, Mad-Eye Moody, Lucius Malfoy and a Slytherin girl, whom he had forgotten her name, stood._

_Ron gulped._

When Hermione opened her eyes, she was on the cold ground of the Astronomy Tower. She tried punching herself several times in a feeble attempt to hurt herself for being so stupid.

_Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot._ She cursed herself.

A room full of former Death Eaters - how had she not seen it coming? Maybe if she had done just a little research, maybe if she had just looked into it a little bit, she could have saved them.

But she didn't.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Draco grieved much differently than Hermione. While she was slumped up in a corner all the time, he would walk. He would walk aimlessly, his head in another world. More often than not, he would find Luna Lovegood (he had refrained from calling her Looney due to her kindness towards him) walking silently beside him, sometimes awake and sometimes not. The Prefects ignored him. Most of the teachers were used to him walking into their classrooms afters lessons, and would just ignore him as he glanced around the room, then left again. It had become a regular thing for him to accidentally walk into a room that two lovebirds were occupying, and even that didn't phase him. He was too busy in his own little world.

He did have nightmares, though. Horrible, dreadful things that scared him out of sleep. He would just walk around, ignoring his raging hunger and the sleep that clawed at him until he couldn't do it anymore and fell asleep wherever he was. He had to be careful; if he slept too close to a Common Room, everyone would hear his screaming.

_"Snake Boy and Pansy, sitting in a -"_

_"Shut up!" Exclaimed Draco, playfully punching Lilac's arm, looking frantically at Pansy to make sure she couldn't hear. _

_Lilac erupted in laughter._

_"Honestly," Sighed Draco. "You're worse than the First Years."_

_"Don't deny it, Malfoy. You lo-o-ve her."_

_"I do not 'love' her." Grunted Draco. This was the truth - even Lilac knew it. She just liked to tease him. Pansy and Draco had much more of a love-hate relationship - Pansy loved Draco, and Draco hated Pansy. _

_Draco and Lilac, on the other hand, had been inseparable since, well, birth. They were born hours apart and grew up together. Draco's mother would take him to Lilac's house and they would play for hours._

_Pansy gave Draco a flirtatious smile and twirled her hair a little bit, which Lilac found to be even more hilarious. She tried to hold in her laughter but instead ended up looking ridiculous._

_"Can I have your attention?" Asked Professor Snape, coming into the room. Lilac and Draco immediately shut their mouths and went their own ways. Draco sat with Crabbe and Goyle and Lilac sat by herself. _

_Snape was friends with Draco's father, and if the great Lucius Malfoy knew that Draco spent time with a Halfblood, he would disown him and hurt Lilac. _

_Draco's mother would often bring Draco to Lilac's house when they were little, but only when his father was at work. After a few years, the two kids would throw fits until they got to see each other, so both of their parents made it a point that they see each other every few days. _

_"I expect you all did last night's assignment..." Started Snape._

_Draco looked around and realized that Lilac was in front of him. He saw the back of her head, her brown curls cascading down her back. _

_"Snake Girl," he whispered, trying to get her attention. He repeated it._

_Nothing._

_"Lilac!" He said a little louder. She didn't move._

_He took a small piece of parchment, crumpled it up, and threw it at her._

_"Snake Boy, what are you doing ?!" Asked a voice behind him._

_He turned his head where Lilac was sitting. But if Lilac was behind him -_

_He turned back around and came face to face with a very angry Hermione Granger. He groaned. Lilac and Hermione looked identical from the back._

_"What are you trying to pull off, Malfoy?" She snapped. Ron Weasley and Harry Potter sat on either side of her, looking even more annoyed than she did._

_Ever since he had called her a Mudblood in Second Year, she had hated him. They were even though - she had punched him in thee face the year before. He couldn't care less what Hermione thought of him._

_"Granger, talking during class? Ten points from Gryffindor." Announced Professor Snape._

_Hermione huffed and turned back around._

_"Wait, so you thought Granger was me? Or that I was Granger? Or both?!" Asked Lilac after class._

_"You two have the same hair! It wasn't my fault. Wear it up next time." Defended Draco. _

_Lilac smiled. "You should've seen Potter and Weasley's faces. All you have to do to unhinge them is talk badly about their little Golden Girl."_

_"Maybe that will come in handy when the first Task comes along."_

_"I still can't believe Potter put his name in the Goblet." Sighed Lilac. She had no respect for attention seeking. Until his past year, she never understood why Draco hated Potter, so much, but now she saw it. Draco was thankful; now his rants on Scarface wouldn't always be so one-sided._

_"Him, and Weasel-Be, and that filthy little Mudbl-" Draco stopped himself. He knew that Lilac couldn't stand "the 'M' word", considering her mother was Muggleborn. "That filthy little know-it-all. They all drive me insane." _

_Lilac nodded. She didn't exactly hate Granger - she was just insanely jealous, and she had reminded Draco of this fact several times_

_As a child, when she was in Muggle School, she was the top of her class, and her parents were always proud of her. But ever since first year, she was stuck in the shadows of the "Brightest Witch of Her Age". She was always in second place._

_Draco and Lilac suffered the same fate; second place to Hermione Granger. While they both despised it, it was something that brought the best friends closer together._

_The week past rather slowly, and finally, it was the day of the First Task._

Draco punched the wall in front of him. He had done it so many times that his bruised knuckles started bleeding right away. He accepted the stinging feeling with open arms; it meant that he was getting punished for what he had done a year ago. Well, for what he didn't do.

He remembered Lilac's soft smile and loud laugh. He remembered the way she was a perfectionist and hated second place. She was his best friend.

_Is_, He corrected himself. _Is my best friend._

She was still out there somewhere - he just had to find her. Knowing that this was impossible, he slammed his fists against the hard brick and felt tears prick at his eyes. Ignoring them, he continued his midnight walk.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Hermione emptied another bottle of Sleeping Draft. She threw it to the ground, hearing the glass shatter. She was starting to see double, and her mind was fuzzy. She let herself drop into another world of unconsciousness, another world of memories.

_Hermione blushed as she walked out of the champion's tent. Talking to Harry made them both feel better. She didn't mention the pictures - he didn't need another addition to this long list of things to be stressed about._

_Viktor Krum had been eyeing her the entire time she was in the tent._

_Hermione's thoughts drifted to the Yule Ball. It hadn't been officially announced yet; she only knew about it because she had read about the Triwizard Tournament years ago. She had been_

_thinking about it since First Year, before she had friends. She remembered imagining walking out to the dance floor, looking like a princess, and anyone who had ever made fun of her would regret it. She chuckled to herself, remembering the days when the most important thing in the world was to feel like a princess. _

_Within the four years since that day, she'd realized that there were much better things to feel like - such as a hero._

_However, she had ordered her dress online weeks ago. It was delivered to her doorstep and she got her owl to pick it up. She couldn't wait for the dress to come in._

_She couldn't wait for the Yule Ball._

_She already alerted her parents that she wouldn't be coming home for Christmas that year. They were a little bit disappointed that she wouldn't be coming, but hoped she would have lots of fun at the Yule Ball. Her father even wrote down a letter for her date, with all the stereotypical "if you hurt my little girl" threats. _

_Hermione smiled to herself. _

_According to Padma and Pavarti, all the girls in the entire school were already jealous of her - apparently, Viktor Krum kept staring at her, and rumor had it, he fancied her. She imagined being taken to the Ball with him. It would be fun, and he was definitely a nice guy - not to mention good looking - but she'd rather someone else take her._

_Her mind drifted to Ron. It always did that - whenever a love song came on, or she read a romance novel, she pictured herself and Ron. She didn't even know_ _why_, _but_ _it had been that way since he had stood up for _her _when Malfoy had been insulting_ _her_ _when_ _they_ _were_ _only_ _twelve_.

_Thinking_ _of_ _Malfoy_ _almost made Hermione sick, so she searched the bleachers for Ron and watched the Task. _

Hermione woke herself up with her sobs. There was a puddle on the ground from her own tears and she was hiccuping.

She remembered the excitement for the Yule Ball that had boiled up inside her. She never should have gone. She should have just gone home for Christmas, and convinced Ron and Harry to do the same.

Another 'what if' that could have spared a life.

This was another reason that she hadn't spoken to anyone in months. She didn't want to mess up any more lives. She didn't want to be the reason for anyone else's misfortune, except for maybe her own.

Opening a new bottle, she gulped up the Sleeping Draft greedily, hoping that maybe, just maybe, it would actually do its job and put her to sleep for once.

Unfortunately, she wasn't that lucky.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Draco was walking aimlessly, his mind blank. He was so out of it that he didn't even say anything when he bumped right into someone.

"Oh, good evening, Malfoy," Said (a very much awake) Luna sweetly. She refrained from calling him by his first name, which he was thankful for.

He murmured something that was supposed to be a greeting.

"I'm sure that it wasn't intentional that you ended up up here, but you probably shouldn't stay long..." Warned Luna.

Draco glanced around, and recognized something along the lines of a third floor hallway. He slumped up against a hallway wall, willing himself to stay awake, even if that meant being plunged into memories. As long as he didn't have the nightmares, everything would be alright.

_Draco didn't know what possessed him to take the pictures, but he was glad he did. He got a good run - and laugh - out of the whole thing._

_He turned around, expecting Granger and Weasel-Be to come around the corner any second, but nothing happened._

_Damn. If they didn't react, it wasn't fun anymore._

_He dropped the pictures in between the crack of two bricks in the wall, figuring he would tell them that he hid them and send them on a wild goose chase. _

_He walked down the hall, glancing into the empty classrooms_.

_They were nowhere to be found._

_He took a few more steps, and heard some voices._

_Draco looked into his Potions class, where a handful of people were, including Lilac, who was the reason he had came back to the castle in the first place._

_However, he was ignoring her because someone much more important was in the room._

_"Dad," he smiled._

_He hadn't seen his father since the Quidditch World Cup, and even though his mom wrote to Draco daily, Lucius never did. Narcissa tried to convince Draco that he was just busy, and Draco could only hope that was the case._

_"I - I passed all my grades with top marks. I don't know what mom told you, but -"_

_"So it's settled?" Lucius Malfoy asked Mad-Eye, who nodded._

_"Dad, all my professors say I'm at the top of my classes, even ask Professor Snape -"_

_Lucius didn't even look at his son - he just walked right past him, as if he was invisible, out the door._

_No one in the room had ever seen such a pained look on Draco Malfoy's_ face.

Draco felt his fists clench and sweat drip down his forehead. He remembered when his biggest issue was trying to impress his father. If only that was still the only problem.

_Everyone_ _slowly_, _and a little awkwardly, walked out of the Potions Class._

_Lilac was stunned. That was who Draco had been talking about when he described his father? In her opinion, he seemed like a big prick._

_"Come on, Draco," she said, pulling at his elbow. "We've got to get to the Task."_

_Draco didn't move. He was staring into nothing._

_Lilac sighed. She sat Draco down on a chair and sat next to him, putting her head on his shoulder. All he needed was for someone to be there for him, and if that's what h_e _needed, that's what she'd do_.

Draco felt the guilt tear him apart from the inside out. He has been friends for Lilac for so long that he had never even bothered to imagine a life without her understanding looks, without her jokes, without her. He had taken the friendship for granted. Lilac always knew exactly what to say. She was there for him through thick and thin, but that one day - exactly a year ago - was the one where she needed him, and he failed her.

"Hey, hey..." Luna was crouched in front of him. "I have something to show you."

Too weak to protest, he took her hand and followed her into the room she guided him into.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

_Another week past. Every day, it seemed like more and more people were getting dates to the dance, but Ron and Harry weren't getting anywhere_.

_Ron would have asked someone long ago, but rumour was that a certain Bulgarian was also after her, and who was he to compete with the greatest Quidditch player of all time?_

_"Krum barely talks to her," sighed Harry, rolling his eyes. "You've been her best friend for four years."_

_"Not really..." Muttered Ron. "I was a git to her when we were eleven -"_

A git. _A git_. The word bounced around in Hermione's blurry mind like a bullet that kept impaling her over and over again. Harry had ended up telling Hermione how nervous Ron had been days before the Yule Ball. She let him think that he had been a git. Sure, he hadn't been the nicest, but a git? What if that had been one of his last thoughts, that he was a git?! What if she let him think that?

"_In Second Year, you technically ate slugs for her after Malfoy acted like a prick. If that doesn't get 'Mione, I don't know what will, mate."_

_Ron shrugged._

_"You've got to ask her before someone else beats you to it." Insisted Harry._

_Turning the corner, they almost bumped right into someone._

Hermione had clutched on to these memories like her life depended on it. It was the last shred of happiness, the last shred of blind hope that everything would be okay that she ever had. She had memorized every word, every thought, every detail, not wanting to forget what it felt like when everything was okay.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

A half hour later, Draco stepped out of the room that Luna had led him in. He was exhausted now. He staggered down a few hallways, not wanting to bother Luna with his subconscious yelling. He kept walking, only half awake, and considered going back to the Slytherin dungeon when he passed framed pictures of students at the Yule Ball the year before.

The memories stung his brain like poison, and he was plunged into another flashback.

_Weeks had passed since the Task. _

_Weeks had passed since Draco had been himself._

_He thought that he was finally going to have a good relationship with his father, that he would finally impress him and make him proud. He thought that maybe at the next house party, Lucius would proudly and loudly introduce Draco, like Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle's parents would do for them. He would do anything to get that man's stamp of approval._

_Lilac sighed. Lucius Malfoy was a foul prick, but Draco either didn't notice or didn't care._

Draco knew that Lilac hadn't liked his father. The fact that, at this very moment, she could be looking at him, talking to him, suffering because of him made Draco nauseous.

_All Slytherins in Fourth Year and older were to be in their common-rooms. By the time Lilac and Draco got there, almost everyone was already seated. The girls sat on one side, gossiping and giggling, and the guys sat on the other, laughing loudly and occasionally hitting each other on the back of the head. Lilac groaned, and so did Draco. Unlike all the other girls in her year, she didn't care which Weird Sister was getting a divorce or who was mad at who. Draco didn't even want to be there; he wanted to go to his common-room, bury himself in the blankets, and never come out._

_Professor Snape slowly strutted into class with his shoulders held back, giving him an air of authority._

_"Unless most of you have been living," He started. "under a rock, you would know that this year Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Tournament." _

_He took a pause._

_"Every year, with the Tournament, comes an event held on Christmas Day. It's called the Yule Ball, which is a dance, obviously."_

_A couple of girls squealed and some of the boys groaned. Lilac broke into a huge smile, but Draco rolled his eyes; he hated dancing. _

_"Can I have a volunteer...?"_

_Lilac was still smirking. She knew that Draco hated these sorts of events - they reminded him of the stupid Social Balls that his parents would drag him to, which usually ended in a forced slow dance with Pansy and her trying to make out with him. _

_Snape noticed this and called Lilac up. Her smile vanished and her eyes widened, while a grin was starting to draw itself on Draco's features._

_They took a ballroom dancing style position and Snape started the music. Their movements were awkward and Lilac looked like she was going to nauseate. Neither of them seemed to find it very amusing, but Draco hadn't laughed that hard in a long, long time._

It sounded cliché, but Draco couldn't remember the true feeling of laughing until your stomach hurt and tears stung your eyes.

_After the class, all the girls were talking about dresses or dates or makeup or hair. Draco even noticed Lilac look over at them longingly, wishing that she could take part in the conversation._

_"You can go talk with them if you really want to." He shrugged._

_"What? Oh, nah. It's not worth it - I don't need to be getting caught up in whatever drama they want to talk about."_

_Draco let the subject go._

He so desperately wanted to talk to Lilac. Shit, he just missed her so much.

His eyes scanned the photographs. There weren't very many since the ball hadn't lasted very long. He came across one of the Slytherin girls right before everyone went to the ballroom. Pansy, Daphne Greengrass, Millicent Bulstrode and Tracey Davis were all smiling at the camera, waving and blowing kisses. Draco felt a pang in his chest. Lilac wasn't in any of the pictures. Being a Halfblood, her fellow housemates weren't fond of her and everyone else in the school thought that she was a rude, prejudiced, stereotypical Slytherin. Putting his back against the wall, he let his memories consume him once more.

_Draco tried not to jerk away from Pansy as they sat together in the library. She was grabbing his forearm and constantly blinking her eyelashes. It was probably an effort to try and look flirtatious and appealing, but Draco was ready to ask her if she got something stuck in her eye._

Pansy. She hadn't bothered him in ages. It was probably due to his messy, unkept hair, to the dark circles printed under his eyes, and the fact that he'd barely talked in months.

_He heard a scoff, and looked over to see Granger at the table beside them. Noticing that she'd been caught, she put her nose back in her book and hid her face with it. _

_"Trying to see what you'll never have, Granger?" It was a pretty immature remark, but it got a giggle out of Pansy, so it couldn't be that bad._

_Then again, pretty much all Draco had to go to get Pansy to laugh was breathe. He scooted his chair closer to her - he knew it would annoy Granger._

_Granger slammed _Hogwarts: A History_ on the table._

_"Yeah Malfoy, I'll never have to worry about conceiving children that could be mistaken for pugs. Unfortunately, it seems that you'll be having that problem in the near future." She smirked, content with her comeback, even if she knew that it was downright nasty. Draco couldn't blame her; it was nice seeing the prissy little Gryffindor get a backbone._

_A couple of Pansy's friends, including Millicent Bulstrode, who had been hunched over some thick spell books, looked over and giggled._

_Seeing Granger's death glare, they both quickly scurried out of the library._

_Pansy's face scrunched up more so than it had been originally, making her face look like a big mushed up puddle of flesh. She gasped and stood up, taking out her wand._

_"You little insufferable..." She paused and threw a spell at Hermione. "Stupefy! Mudblood!"_

_Granger hadn't prepared herself - she didn't even have her wand in her hand - so she got the full blast of the spell. Even then, Pansy was closer the the bottom of her classes than she was to the top, so it wasn't very powerful. Granger was thrown about a foot back and knocked out of her chair, but she was standing back up, wand at the ready, faster that Pansy had been able to conjure the spell._

_"Expelliamus!" She shrieked. Draco stood by them, mouth agape. Granger had has a stone complexion the second that the word "Mudblood" left Pansy's mouth._

_"Petrificus Totalus!" She said again before Pansy could defend herself._

_Once Pansy was frozen, Granger waltzed right up to her and punched her right in the nose. She then grabbed her books and left, passing an angry Madame Pince as she did._

_Draco was stunned for a second, but then quickly reversed the spell on Pansy._

_"What are you waiting for, Draco?!" She demanded, clutching her bloody nose. "Take me to the hospital wing!"_

_Draco sighed and grabbed her wrist, but Pansy pulled away._

_"Not yet, you prick! Go teach that filthy Mudblood scum a lesson!"_

_Draco rolled his eyes. He would never let Pansy boss him around like that if she wasn't such a tattletale, and he was still so set on impressing his father._

_Draco speed walked out of the library, following the path he was pretty sure Hermione had taken. Sure, she could deliver a good punch - he knew from experience - but he could probably deliver a better one. _

_Draco walked the halls. Soon, he could hear her soft yet firm voice echo off the halls, and he followed it. The conversation the he could hear between Granger, Weasle-Be and Potter, however, was just getting interesting._

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

The guilt burned Hermione alive from the inside out, like gasoline lit on fire. There were so many signs of what was going to happen, but she had been too ignorant, too preoccupied, too stupid to take notice of them.

"_Ron! Harry! There you are!" Exclaimed Hermione. She didn't feel like talking about the incident with Pansy - she was just happy that she found the rest of the Golden Trio. "I was just coming back from the library."_

_Ron laughed awkwardly, his ears turning pink, hoping that she hadn't heard the conversation that he had been having with Harry. "We were just going back to the Common room." He turned towards Harry._

_Harry was frozen. He was pale and staring into nothing._

_"Harry?" Repeated Hermione._

_"No." Said Harry coolly. "No, no, no. Not again."_

_"Not again? Not what again? Harry, you're not making any sense..." Hermione started panicking._

_Harry held his head in his hands. "We've got to get to the girl's washroom."_

_"Woah." Went Ron. "Please don't tell me that you're that desperate for a date to the dance._

_It started clicking in Hermione's brain. "I'm pretty sure that unless he wants to bring Moaning Myrtle, he's not looking for a date." _

_Harry looked into her eyes, thankful that she had understood._

_With that, the three of them took off towards the girl's lavatory. Just as they turned the corner, Ron bumped into Harry, because Harry bumped into Hermione, because Hermione bumped into -_

_"Malfoy," She growled._

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Draco was still leaning against the wall next to the Yule Ball portraits, remembering about all of his grudges; even those made against Potter seemed stupid and immature now.

_Draco was taken aback. He stuttered an excuse and took a few steps backwards. He didn't want them to know that he was listening in to their conversation._

Get a grip, Draco._ He told himself. He stood up straight, towering over all three of them who were sprawled on the ground, and brushed himself off._

_The three Gryffindor students struggled to get up before they looked like fools, but by the time the three of them were standing up, Draco was chuckling._

_"Just can't get enough of me, can ya, Granger?"_

_"Shut up, unless you want a face like Pansy's -"_

_Harry and Ron looked at each other, completely lost, while Granger and Draco were putting all of their concentration into shooting daggers at each other with their eyes._

_"That's funny, Granger, really. Hilarious." He put his hands up and clenched them. "If you want a Muggle fight, I'll give you one."_

_He swung his fist and looked at Granger's face - it was full of horror. She didn't even try and protect herself as Draco's fist was mere inches from her face._

_At the last second, he moved his arm to the side so that it didn't hit Hermione. He couldn't do it. She was an annoying, know-it-all Mudblood, but he couldn't do it. It couldn't do something as raw and as vile as punch her in the face._

_To anyone else, it would have looked like a clumsy shot, but Granger must have seen Draco's expression change behind that angry fist._

_"Shove off, Malfoy." Weasl-Be shoutout._

_Draco felt his balance being sacrificed as he stumbled after a hard weight had rammed into his side. He turned to Potter, who had shoved him, and pushed him back harder._

_"Guys," Granger's voice surfaced somewhere in the fight. "Guys!"_

_Weasel-Be was clumsily hitting and elbowing Draco, and Potter was still trying to shove him to the ground. Weasel-Be was weak and a poor fighter, but Potter offered a little bit more of a challenge, considering he was the only one of out the three who really knew how to Muggle-fight properly. If Draco could just snatch his wand..._

_"Harry, Ronald - we have much, much more important things to worry about!" Granger's voice sounded again._

_Potter nodded - Hermione was right. Draco almost chuckled as he watched Potter's expression fall as he realized that he wouldn't be able to knock Draco into oblivion - not today, anyways._

Not ever_, Draco smiled to himself._

_"Don't you have a girlfriend you should be attending to?" Snarled Granger to Draco._

Damn it_. Technically, he did have a 'girlfriend' that he should be attending to. Pansy would have a fit if he didn't get to the hospital wing. Shoving Potter one more time, he stepped away from the fight, feeling victorious for having dealt the final blow._

_"Baby!" Wailed Pansy from the cot in the hospital wing. She looked fine - no blood, no bruise, and her nose was back to normal._

_Well, as normal as a Parkinson's nose could look._

_Draco walked over her outstretched arms and held them. She looked at him with a little smile, and then an evil smirk. "Did you hurt her? That little arrogant -"_

_"Yeah, I hurt her." He said, leaving it at that. "Potter and Weasel-Be, too."_

_Pansy scoffed and put on a fake apologetic smile. "Are you sure that that blood traitor can afford the healthcare?"_

_The healthcare at Hogwarts was free. _

_"Ha, ha, ha." He tried to make the laugh sound genuine, but he wasn't really sure if it worked or not. His mind was somewhere else. What had Potter been going on and on about? _

He remembered Second Year, Muggleborns had been in grave danger. Draco had been an especially big arse that year - his father tricked him into thinking that a great ancestor had been murdered by a group of Muggles. It was only months later that Lilac informed him that there was no such person or event in existence.

He figured that Lucius made up the story because Draco had felt just the slightest pang in his chest in Diagon Alley when his father first met Granger- she took all of Lucius' insults as if they meant nothing, which was more than Draco could do.

Too bad he had forgotten what a little know-it-all she was. Draco was sure that if he was at the top of his classes, or at least not beat to second place by a Mudblood, his dad would at least talk to him. It was that stupid Mudblood's fault. She ruined _everything_.

Hermione hadn't seen Malfoy in ages. She didn't know how he was dealing with everything. He was probably having a party every day; he hated the Weasleys.

She slurped up one of the last bottles of Sleeping Draft that she had in her possession.

_"I can't stand that lowlife of a -" Started Ron._

_"Harry," Hermione interrupted as they made their way to the girl's lavatory. She had had enough of Malfoy for one day. "What exactly did you hear, out in the corridor?"_

_Harry gulped. "Parseltongue, like, from Second Year. Like, from the Chamber of Secrets."_

_Ron's face got visibly paler. "I swear, if we have to follow fucking spiders again- "_

_Hermione stuttered. "That - that's impossible. You killed the basilisk, and they closed off the Chamber. _

_"I killed _a_ basilisk." Said Harry slowly, emphasizing on the 'a'._

_"Yeah, exactly -" Replied Ron._

_"A single basilisk, Ron. There were a least a dozen voices."_

_The three of them stayed quiet, but the silence seemed eerie and dangerous. They made their way to the girl's lavatory, all left to their own thoughts_

_Hermione thought of how she had been petrified by the giant snake, and how scary everything had been in that moment, like nothing could ever comfort her ever again. She thought about how she and Harry had almost lost a friend and Ron almost lost his little sister in that disgusting chamber. She felt about Ginny herself, who had lost control of her own actions at the age of eleven. Hermione so desperately hoped that Harry's mind was playing tricks on him, that nothing really happened._

_Harry, Ron and Hermione ran into the girl's washroom, the one no one ever went into because of -_

_"... No, it's like I don't exist. It's like I'm invisible, right? 'Who cares if we scare Moaning Myrtle!'"_

_Myrtle was diving in and out of toilet bowls, making a big, watery mess._

_"Let's scare Moaning Myrtle, because she's already DEAD!"_

_"Myrtle?!" Exclaimed Hermione. Sure, the ghost was overdramatic when it came to, well, everything, but she seemed especially unhinged today._

_"Hermione!" Moaning Myrtle flew down to the young girl and tried to hug her, but the sensation made Hermione almost vomit. She did her best to hide her facial expression from Myrtle._

_"Wait a second." Growled Moaning Myrtle, taking a step back. "Are you guys gonna go try and scare me too?!"_

_"What are you on about ?" Asked Ron._

_"Oh, like you don't know. I'm sure that this entire castle talks about how funny it is when I scream..."_

_"Myrtle, what's going on?" Wondered Harry out loud, genuinely concerned. _

_Myrtle's distraught expressions immediately softened when Harry started talking._

_"Hello, Harry Potter..." She giggled, putting an arm around him. "I don't even know... I was all by myself, as usual, and then these girls walked in. I thought that one of them was you, Hermione, or maybe Lilac, because she looked brunette and you're the only two people who ever come in here."_

_"Lilac?" Questioned Harry, unfamiliar with the name. _

_Myrtle ignored her. "I called your name but when she didn't answer, I figured that it was Lilac. I was about to scream at her to get out, but then she was gone. Just like that. The other girl refused to tell me anything, little prick."_

_"What did she look like?" Questioned Harry. "What house was she from?"_

_The ghost shrugged. "I don't know. She wore her plain Hogwarts robes, the ones you get in first year, and they were way too small for her. Then, she just reappeared. Out of thin air. Just like that. She nodded to her friend and left me here, scared out of my mind!" _

_Ron chuckled, and Myrtle gave him a death glare. Harry and Hermione shot him annoyed expressions. He knew better than to make fun of the overdramatic ghost._

_"Well... Um..." Stuttered Ron. "I mean, it's just kind of ironic. You're the ghost, usually you scare people, not the other way around."_

_Hermione rolled her eyes. Ron could be such an idiot sometimes._

_"Oh, I get it, let's all scare Myrtle because she's a ghost! Ten points if you make her jump, fifty if she screams!" Myrtle shrieked in Ron's face, which was now full of fear._

_"Myrtle, just... Let us know if you see her again, okay?" Harry glanced over at the Chamber of Secrets' entrance. It still seemed to be sealed shut like it had been for two years._

_One thing that everyone would have thought that he would have learned by now is that things are rarely what they seem to be, especially at Hogwarts, and especially for Harry Potter._

_A few days later, Ron was very panicked, more so than he had been before all of his previous Hogwarts exams combined. He couldn't go dateless to the Yule Ball. Even Neville had been able to get himself a date._

_"Just go with Hermione." Sighed Harry._

_"No, I'll seem desperate if I ask her..." Started Ron. _

_"Well, you fancy her, don't you?"_

_Ron took a deep breath. "Well, yeah, I do. It's just... She's Hermione..."_

_"Mate, she's my best friend." Insisted Harry. "Krum asked her, and she hasn't even answered yet. I think that she's waiting to see if you'll ask her."_

_Ron stuttered just as the bushy haired beauty turned to corner. _

_"M-'Mione!" He exclaimed nervously. "Um..." _

_"Ron has something that he would like to ask you." Said Harry with a sly grin. Ron gave him the strongest death glare he could muster._

_"What is it, Ronald? I've got to get to Transfigurations-"_

_"I - I was just wondering... If you'd like to go to the Ball... With me?"_

_Hermione stared at him for a torturous second before breaking into a smile._

_Say no,_ Thought Hermione to herself, gripping onto her vial of Sleeping Draught. _Say no, and neither of you will go, and everything will be okay..._

However, her flashback kept playing in front of her eyes, like a movie.

_"Yeah, yeah. I'd love to."_

Little did she know, she'd only get a single dance.

_Hermione couldn't stop smiling. Ron asked her. He actually asked her! She ran through the halls of the school - she had to find Ginny._

_When she finally got to the Gryffindor common-room, it was loud and crowded, but Hermione could easily identify Ginny's long red locks from across the room. _

_"Gin, come on, I've got to tell you something!" _

_Ginny looked up from her textbook. "What? 'Mione, what?" _

_Hermione glanced around. There was too much noise, and too many gossip hounds. She had to go somewhere quiet, somewhere where she could talk to Ginny in private._

_"Come on," she said, tugging Ginny's sleeve. _

_The two girls left the Common Room and made their way to the Girl's Lavatory._

_"He asked me, Gin." Said an ecstatic Hermione. "Ronald asked me to the Yule Ball."_

_Ginny smiled. "Awe, Hermione, I'm so happy for you!"_

_The girls gushed about the ball for a few more minutes, walking aimlessly around the castle. Just as they came up to the girl's lavatory, Ginny gulped._

_"Do we have to go in there?" She asked. That washroom brought back sick, twisted memories to the poor witch._

_"No, I just wanted to -" _

_Hermione stopped talking mid sentence. She could hear a high pitched weeping._

_"Wait, do you hear that...?"_

_"Hear what?"_

_To Ginny's dismay, Hermione slowly walked into the washroom. Just as Hermione expected, there was Myrtle; lying on the ground in tears, sobbing uncontrollably. _

_"Myrtle? Myrtle, what's the matter?"_

_The ghost's body shook with every sob. She looked up at Hermione._

_"It's happening again. It's happening again!"_

_Ginny started shifting her weight from one foot to the other, getting uncomfortable. Hermione, on the other hand, was very curious._

_"What are you talking about?"_

_The ghost was distraught, spitting out sentences that didn't make sense. "They were here, then there was a wrapper, and then they were gone, and then they were back, and then they were gone!"_

_"Who? Myrtle, you've got to speak clearly!"_

_"I don't know!" She snapped, tears still running down her face. "Two real scary looking ones, and those two girls I saw a couple of weeks ago."_

_"Hermione..." Called Ginny, who had walked over to the sinks._

_"What? Ginny, I'm kind of busy at the moment."_

_"No, Hermione, you're going to want to see this."_

_Hermione walked over to where Ginny was standing, just a little bit annoyed. What she saw, however, made her gasp and stumble back a couple of steps._

_The entrance to the Chamber Of Secrets wasn't sealed anymore. _

Hermione made horrifying sounds as she sobbed on the floor on the Astronomy tower. Her fingers were going blue from the cold, but she was far from caring. She should have known. She should have known.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Draco's eyes stung. His mind begged him for relief, begged him for sleep, but he wouldn't give in. The nightmares were too much for him. They made it impossible to tell if he was dreaming or facing reality, and it made him relive his darkest moments and face his greatest fears. He settled to looking for nothing, and tried to follow the train of memories that he had been going through.

"_I've already been asked by six guys." Boasted Pansy to her friends. "I'm just waiting for the right one." She glanced over at Draco. Lilac bit her lip to keep herself from laughing. Pansy had been talking loudly and hinting things around Draco for days. She was convinced he would ask her. Lilac put her book in front of her face to cover it and leaned towards Draco._

_"Someone's getting desperate."_

_Draco groaned. "I mean, why won't anyone else ask me? I could use it as an excuse."_

_Lilac scoffed. "She's scared almost all of the girls in the school. All anyone has to do is look at you to get a hex from her, and Merlin forbid you go with anyone who's not Pureblood, so that leaves Pansy."_

_"Why does the universe hate me...?" Draco buried his face in his hands._

_"Stop being such a drama queen." Sighed Lilac, rolling her eyes. "If you don't go with her, she'll throw a hissy fit. It's one night, Snake Boy, get over it."_

_"Oh yeah?" He asked, sitting up straight. "Who are you going with then, Snake Girl?"_

_The Snake nicknames were old childhood memories. Everyone knew that Draco would be a Slytherin, so Lilac had always called him Snake Boy. Everyone - except for Draco and Lilac's mother - thought that Lilac would be Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, but not Slytherin. ("Too sneaky not to be a Slytherin," Draco would smirk. "She'll do anything to get her way. At the age of four, she kept her room clean for a month for a new doll, which is definitely something a Slytherin would do." Her mother would say.) Karma bit Lilac in the butt when she did end up in Slytherin and Draco could tease her right back. They had been using the nicknames ever since._

_"No one," Replied Lilac just a little too quickly. Draco raised an eyebrow - he knew her too well._

_"You want to go with someone." He said blankly. _

_"No, I don't know where you got that from -"_

_"You actually want to go with someone!"_

_"Shut your trap, Malfoy..."_

_"You haven't had a crush since we were twelve!"_

_"Shut up!" Exclaimed Lilac. "Fine, alright, but he's already going with someone else, so it doesn't even matter. Now shut up before someone hears you!"_

_Draco smirked. Eventually, he would find out who this mystery guy was._

_Then, he'd threaten to beat the shrimp to a plump if he had any plans to mess with Lilac._

_An hour later, Draco was on his bed groaning into his pillow. Lilac was sitting in the chair in the corner of the dormitory. They were the only two in the room - everyone else was eating dinner, and they had a good half hour before anyone came up to their room._

_"It wasn't that bad..." Said Lilac slowly._

_"Easy for you to say." He exclaimed. "You weren't the one getting Parkinson's tongue shoved down your throat!" _

_"That's why you should have told her you were just going as friends..."_

_He sat up. His hair was pointing in all directions and his shirt was all wrinkled. "I tried! I told her 'just as friends', loud and clear, and she just went and snogged me! It's not fair..."_

_Lilac bit the inside of her cheek. She did feel bad for him. "It's done. It sucks, but it's done, and you can't change it now. Stop complaining, would you?"_

_Draco huffed. "I'd rather go with anyone else. Anyone..."_

_Lilac broke into a smile. "Anyone? Even Granger?"_

_Draco hesitated for a second. "Granger or Pansy... Wow, tough one."_

_"Well, you're too late, Snake Boy, Granger's got a date already. Weasley."_

_Draco stared at Lilac for a second, almost not believing it. "Pfft, they deserve each other. I bet that they're both horrible snoggers anyways. I mean, just imagine Granger, she would be just horrible, with those little lips and that bushy hair and -"_

_Lilac stared at him for a second. "You've thought about snogging Granger?"_

_Draco got very defensive very quickly. "No, I just... Just in the moment... You know what I mean!"_

Draco clenched his eyes shut. He couldn't even protect his best friend. What was wrong with him?!


	3. Stole

**(One Year Ago)**

**Sunday, December 25th 1994**

Hermione sighed in frustration. She had tried countless hair and makeup tutorials, braids and buns and smokey eyes and winged eyeliner and everything in between.

This had been hours ago, but Hermione hadn't made any progress. She kept messing up her makeup with her shaky hands, and her hairstyles never stayed in place.

It didn't feel right, having a Yule Ball when things were going so wrong. Professor Dumbledore had come to inspect the Chamber Of Secrets with a group of Aurors, but they couldn't open it, even if Harry was speaking Parseltongue to it.

Poor Harry was going insane. He was clutching his hurting scar every two seconds and he kept looking up at the castle walls, hearing the voices that haunted his nightmares.

Ginny walked away from the group of giggling, gossiping girls, over to Hermione. She had her hair up already and was doing the finishing touches on her makeup.

"Come on, 'Mione, it's Christmas!"

"Sure doesn't feel like it." She sighed.

"Well, there's a Ball waiting for us, and you are going to have fun and stop worrying for once in your life."

With that, Ginny sat down and got started with Hermione's makeup.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

The Slytherin girls were all in the dormitories, talking and laughing. Lilac had been hiding in a bathroom, getting ready by herself.

She had a smokey eye look with tints of teal, making her bright blue eyes looks magnificent. She showed off her light spray of freckles and put on some light pink lipstick. Her hair was in ringlets, in a half-up half-down bun, held up by tiny little teal berets and complete with some glitter spray she had found next to the sink. Her bangs hung over her forehead, dangerously close to her eyes.

She gave herself a girly moment and spun around in her dress. It was sleeveless, black and sparkly at the top and then teal to the bottom, which reached just above her knee. Her black high heels made clicking noises on the bathroom tiles.

Lilac couldn't wait.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Come on, 'Mione!" Exclaimed an annoyed Ginny. "We're going to be late."

Hermione looked at herself one more time in the mirror. Her makeup was flawless, thanks to Ginny. Her hair was mostly up, and her dress fit her perfectly. It was a soft blue and reached the floor, making her feel like the princess she had always wanted to be.

The two girls stepped into the hall and time stood still. There was Harry, arm in arm with Cho Chang. Hermione felt Ginny stiffen beside her. Every few seconds Harry would rub his head, which would seem normal to anyone else, but Hermione knew that it was because of his scar.

She saw Fleur Delacour with a date that she didn't know, and Cedric Diggory standing alone, tapping his foot, as if waiting for someone.

Ron gave her a little smile, walking over. Behind him was Malfoy and Pansy. Malfoy was staring at her with his mouth a little ajar, probably thinking of some insult to throw at her, but Hermione didn't care; she smirked and winked at him to prove it to him. She took Ron's hand with a smile.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Draco stared at her. He realized that he was staring, but he couldn't stop.

She looked stunning.

Hermione Granger looked stunning. Hermione Granger took his breath away. _Hermione Granger looked stunning._

Draco watched as Weasel-Be walked up to her. He looked ridiculous. That was insane - Granger looked like she was pulled right out of a storybook, and Weasel-Be looked like he was pulled right out of the circus. It didn't make sense.

When Draco finally managed to pull his eyes off of Granger, he noticed another figure coming behind her. Lilac.

Lilac never talked to Draco about her makeup, or her clothes, or anything of the sort. She looked gorgeous. Draco looked around, wondering who could be the mystery date that she had been talking about.

A flash of brown hair passed him, and he saw the back of a figure approaching Lilac. Lilac broke out into a smile and hugged the wizard. She saw Draco, and gave him a little wave from behind the boy's back.

The two turned around, and Draco saw a glowing Lilac and a beaming Cedric Diggory.

At first, Draco felt a little wary - Cedric was older, and older guys didn't always have the best intentions. However, he was the Triwizard Champion, the best Hogwarts had to offer. He was kind, loyal and hardworking, and had a reputation of good grades. If anyone deserved to go to the Yule Ball with his best friend, it was Cedric.

Meanwhile, Pansy was tugging on his arm, talking to her friends. Every time that Draco tried to distance himself from her, she just clutched his arm tighter. He thought about the question that Lilac had asked him about who he'd rather go to the Yule Ball with, between Pansy and Granger. He looked over at Pansy's dress, a shiny green dress made of an unknown material that made her look like a cross between a disco ball and a rainbow. He looked back at Granger, whose clips were glittering in the light.

Granger. He would pick Granger in an instant.

He scowled to himself. He couldn't be thinking like that - it was an insult to Pansy and to his own family.

McGonagall called out and everyone starting piling into the ballroom.

Draco found himself in a crowd of sweaty bodies, but he was next to Lilac for a second.

"Diggory?" He asked with a smirk.

Lilac couldn't stop smiling. "He was going to go with Cho Chang, but she backed out at the last minute."

"So you were second choice?" Growled Draco, his smile disappearing.

"No, it's not like that. We started talking a day or two before he asked her."

Draco didn't seem convinced, but wished Lilac good luck anyways and went on with the nagging brat tugging on his sleeve.

The annoying thing - well, one of the annoying things - about Pansy was that she stuck to Draco like glue, but wouldn't be twelve inches away from her group of friends, dragging Draco everywhere she went.

Draco looked around. Everything was so beautifully decorated, and if Draco ignored the high-pitched squealing next to him, he could almost hear the faint, soft sound of music.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Hermione watched the Triwizard Champions line up in the middle of the room. A traditional song started to fill her ears, and she watched Harry grin ear-to-ear as he danced with Cho Chang. She had never been happier for her best friend.

She felt a warm hand press against hers. Her cheeks went red in an instant as she looked at Ron, who had tentatively taken her hand.

Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione could see Karkaroff waltz onto the dance floor with Professor McGonagall (Dumbledore would have gone with her, but he was away at the Ministry), Viktor Krum go with his date from Beauxbatons and Cedric Diggory with Lilac Hansel. Ron looked just about terrified to go out there, but Hermione lightly pulled his hand.

In an instant, they were on the dance floor with dozens and dozens of other couples.

She looked up at Ron. Her stomach was doing flips as he leaned in to her, and then their lips met.

Hermione felt like her body was frozen, like she couldn't move, like she didn't have to, like the world was frozen. A second later, Ron's lips were gone, and she was wondering how things could possibly get any better.

With a loud, distant bang and a blood curling scream, the moment was over, and the most horrific night of their lives so far had just begun.

A loud yell came from the middle of the ballroom. Hermione looked over and saw her best friend crash to the ground, clutching his scar. Seconds later, huge streams of black smoke swirled around the room, dropping Death Eaters at every corner.

Hermione grabbed her wand from a pocket inside her dress - she never went anywhere without it - but before she could use it, she heard someone shriek.

"_SHUT YOUR EYES_!"

There was a huge bang and the sound of rubble crashing. A wall to the far side of the room collapsed, and a dozen huge snakes flooded into the room.

Basilisks.

Hermione shielded her eyes, even if she didn't really have to. The smoke from the Death Eaters was a thick black wall, and she couldn't see anything. Ron was nowhere to be found. She stood up, but just as she did, an arm gripped her and she was sent flying.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Draco looked at the scene wide eyed. He thought back to all of the secret meetings between Mad-Eye Moody, Professor Snape, Karkaroff and his father.

Were they _insane_? They could kill Purebloods, each other or themselves.

Before he could process what was going on, there were hundreds of masked, cloaked witches and wizards around the room.

A group stood in the middle. There were several he didn't recognize, and then, in the very centre, was his aunt Bellatrix, his uncle Rodolphus, and Barty Crouch Jr. What shocked him, however, was what they was holding.

Or, rather, _who_ they were holding.

All of the terrified students were holding each other against the wall, except for about a half dozen people who were laying down here and there, unmoving. Draco didn't want to look at them, in fear that it could be a friend whom he would never see again.

"_Ron_! _Hermione_!" A voice yelled. Draco spotted none other than Harry Potter running from the group of witches and wizards.

_Idiot_.

A couple of his friends, including Neville Longbottom and the Weaslette tried following him, but Goyle's father threw a spell at them and they ran into what seemed to be an invisible wall.

Outside of the wall were several Death Eaters, Potter and Diggory, and three students being held; Granger, Weasel-Be and Lilac.

Lilac.

_Lilac_?!

Draco got up from the wall and pounded his fists on the invisible wall as hard as he could.

"_Stupefy_!" Yelled a voice. It was Cedric.

Peter Pettigrew fell to the ground. Rodolphus gripped Lilac's hair with one hand, making her berets fall out, and used his other hand to point his wand at Cedric.

"_Avada Kedavra_!"

"_No_!" Shrieked Harry and Lilac simultaneously.

Cedric fell to the ground. His wand clattered to the ground and even from that far away, Draco could spot his dull, lifeless eyes. The Basilisks slithered around the room.

"_Imperio_," Said Peter Pettigrew as he got back up and steadied himself.

Harry groaned as he was suddenly under Pettigrew's control.

The Weasley girl and a few other Gryffindors threw short-lived and pathetic spells at the wall. Other students were sobbing over the loss of their friend, and Granger, Weasel-Be and Lilac were trying not to break down in the arms of their captors.

Macnair and Goyle Sr. slid over a huge cauldron, and Pettigrew walked towards it with his wand lifted.

"Bone of the father, unknowingly given," A bone was dropped into the cauldron, and shivers ran down Draco's spine. "You will renew your son!"

Harry yelled in pain.

"H-Harry!" Stuttered Granger, struggling against Bellatrix's grasp.

"Flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed, you will revive your master."

Many students gasped, and one even hurled, at the sight of Pettigrew slicing off his own hand into the pot.

Draco couldn't get his eyes off of Granger or Lilac. Minutes ago, neither of them could stop smiling, and they had both looked flawless. Now, they were both hysterical. Granger's dress was ripped and Lilac's hair was everywhere. Both of their faces were caked in a mix of blood and tears, and it made Draco sick.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Hermione watched Peter Pettigrew take a step towards Harry, who was still under the Imperious curse.

"You get away from him!" Yelled Ron. Barty Crouch Jr jabbed his wand onto Ron's throat.

Silent tears fell freely from Hermione's eyes. Her best friend was being tortured, her date was being held captive and she was being clutched by one of the most terrifying criminals of all time. Bellatrix's nails dug into Hermione's wrist and she was yanking on her hair, making Hermione's eyes water even more.

"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe." Pettigrew took a knife to Harry's arm and cut off a few layers of flesh, ignoring Hermione and Ron's cries of protest. Hermione could hear Ginny's screams from the other side of the room.

Harry tried not to show signs of weakness, but he was clearly in pain.

"_Harry_!" Hermione yelled again, just to be clutched by Bellatrix.

"Shut up, you _disgusting_ Mudblood." She sneered in her ear.

Pettigrew dropped a small figure into the cauldron. Another figure rose above it, so pale it was almost blue, so cold it resonated shivers, and so terrifying it would scar everyone in the room for years, maybe their entire lives.

Lord Voldemort.

Macnair handed him a ghostly black cloak, and Voldemort whispered things in a language unknown to anyone else. The snakes started to slither towards the students against the wall, who all turned away to avoid certain death.

Voldemort turned to his followers, thanking them for all of their services to him. He turned to Ron.

"Pureblood." He stated, his wand drawing patterns on Ron's hand. "Such a shame, to spill such blood. You associate with, not only Mudbloods, but Harry Potter as well, I presume?"

Ron sucked in air through his teeth.

"Traitor!" Voldemort yelled in a voice that chilled to the core.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Voldemort slowly stepped over to Lilac.

_No, no, no..._ Thought Draco, squeezing his eyes shut. He didn't want to see this.

"And you, my dear," Voldemort continued. "Halfblood. Hansel, am I correct?"

"My filthy sister's goddaughter!" Shrieked Bellatrix.

"Your family, joined and mixing several bloods, rendering them useless." He spat in her face, and Draco wanted to scream.

However, he didn't do anything. He stood against the wall, shivering, waiting for it all to end.

"Mudblood." Said Voldemort simply, drawing his wand on Granger's jawline. "Why are you crying, dear?"

A loud smack echoed in the hall, and Draco looked up. Voldemort had slapped Granger in the face.

"Get away from her!" Yelled Potter desperately. "Get away from her _right now!_"

Voldemort took a handful of Granger's hair and dragged her down to where Potter was, on the floor.

"Oh, Harry Potter. I almost forgot about you. We're going to duel, and you're going to die. Do you understand me? We're going to rematch that night thirteen years ago. That night that you were protected thanks to your filthy Mudblood mother. Well, Harry Potter, tonight, she's not here, now is she?"

"You're really thick, aren't you?" Growled Potter. "The Aurors will be here any minute now."

"You will be dead long before then." Smiled Voldemort wickedly. "Refuse to duel, and watch your classmates die, one by one. After these three, I have nearly two dozen basilisks that will attack as soon the invisible charm is dropped."

Potter glanced at the rest of his friends and teachers who were behind the invisible wall.

"Get up, fool, and bow. Bow so we can duel!"

Hesitantly, Potter stood up, and he bowed. He looked into Granger's terrified, glossy eyes. He looked up at his best friend, struggling against the grip of the Death Eater that held him.

They were all going to die. Draco was sure of it.

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

There was a huge ray of light, and a loud voice bellowed:

"_PETRIFICUS TOTALUS_!"

Dumbledore.

Shots were fired left and right, and black smoke rose from the ground again. Hermione felt herself being dropped to the ground after someone shot a spell at Bellatrix.

"Are you alright?!" Exclaimed a young woman with flaming pink hair.

Hermione nodded and got back up. She had to get to Ron and Harry.

"Harry! Ronald!" She screamed through the noise. A life without them was not one that she wanted to live.

"Harry! _Harry_! _Ron_!"

"_Hermione_!" A body collided with Hermione, sending both of them to the ground.

"Hermione!" Yelled Harry again, pulling her into a tight hug.

"Ron," Exclaimed Hermione, ignoring her stinging and aching body. "Where's Ron?!"

"I thought he was with you!"

There was the sound of a psychotic laugh. The two looked up just in time to see Bellatrix Lestrange and Lord Voldemort disappear into smoke.

"_NO_!"

**ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

For Draco, all hell had broken loose. The protective invisible wall was gone, and he, along with countless other students, were trying to protect themselves from the angry snakes, all while avoiding their eyes.

Draco pushed himself against a wall. One of the beasts was raging towards him. He struggled to grasp his wand, but the basilisk was only a few feet away.

At the last second, the basilisk erupted into flames. It collided with another one, burning them both to death.

By now, all of the Aurors, staff and students were firing shots at the beasts. The Death Eaters were gone.

Draco pushed through the crowd to the centre of the room. Two bodies were entangled together, shaking with sobs, covered in each other's blood. Potter and Granger were both hysterical.

"Granger!" Draco yelled, kneeling down.

Granger looked up. She was too weak to fight back, too weak to throw another insult at Draco.

"Where is she? Where's Lilac?"

Granger cried even harder.

"Answer me!"

"They - they're gone." She sobbed. "They took them. They're gone. They disappeared. Bellatrix and Voldemort. And - and they - they brought them."

"You're not making sense -"

"Shut your git mouth, Malfoy!" Shouted Potter in rage and tears. "The Death Eaters took them. The Death Eaters took Lilac. The Death Eaters took Ron. And I didn't do _anything_."


End file.
